A new viral challenge is making the rounds online, and it's proving to be surprisingly difficult: distinguish a real monkey from an AI-generated one. The challenge, posted on YouTube Shorts by the account @RealOrAi000, claims that 99% of people fail to correctly identify which of two monkey images is real and which is artificial.
The post, which has already garnered over 1,100 views within 11 hours, features two nearly identical monkey images labeled A and B. Viewers are asked to comment their guess before the reveal. The creator warns that this challenge is even harder than a previous one featuring a waterfall, and that even those who were fooled before will likely be tricked again.
Accompanying the visual test is a soundtrack of the song "Runaway" by AURORA. The description includes hashtags such as #AIvsReal, #AIAnimals, and #realorai, and mentions a free AI tool linked in the creator's bio.
This trend highlights the growing sophistication of AI image generation, which can now produce highly realistic wildlife imagery that blurs the line between reality and simulation. As AI tools become more accessible, such challenges are becoming a popular way to test the public's ability to spot fakes.